We just celebrated Inger's 27th birthday at a lovely restaurant on the edge of a forest by the sea. There was a buffet full of greasy, traditional Danish food, and it was so YUMMY. There were many highlights of the day including an aggressive chiwawa and a man that could not throw a ball, but the main attraction aside from shelby was the youthful looking Inger who paid for our dinner ;) We love you farmor! and it is alway, always hyggelig being with you. You are not only the best grandmother (aside from you mom, of course) but the very best mother inlaw anyone could wish for! (and I am not just kissing your butt for more of your homemade falafels again). Thanks for a great day!

And fyi, shelby has learned how to point at everything and then say what it is in a whispering foreign tongue that neither of us can understand. She is pretty social and very busy watching the world go by, trying if she may, to emerge herself into her enviroment as much as her body and parents will allow. Shelby is on the verge of walking and testing her boundries and us every step of the way. Tantrums on the homefront are frequent at the moment, but when she is out and about she tends to be quite polite. Simon and I can't wait to take her to the states to show her off!

As for us (the parents), we have a wedding tomorrow and aunt Charlotte and our friend from the faroes are coming to stay so I best get myself to the grocery store and do some shopping for a new cardigan for my wedding outfit. Simon says it reveals too much otherwise...bye bye now!

Shelby's first siting of Dart Vaper. And her first words or name: bob dole.

Another awesome birthday gone by. This is what I recieved from my husband and his parents! A bike trailer, so the little one and I don't have to be constrained to a car this spring and summer. Don't get me wrong, there is nothing that I love more than my car, but when the weather is nice outside, and I need the exercise (and I need the exercise) this is where it's at. I love it!! Thanks to my wonderful inlaws and my dear husband who knew that I needed this more than an iphone!

Baby and parents are approaching spring with high spirits. Wow! What a winter we had! It was pretty difficult adapting to the harsh weather and difficult reality that baby raising is not all changing diapers, eat and sleep. We believe that Shelby has been exposed to every sickness known to man and would like to hope that her immune system is a little stronger as we look ahead to next year's winter. Thankfully, she just dodged chicken pox, but we found that she had fluid in her ear, which didn't make for a fun month. Simon and I were exhausted! Now, we think that is taken care of, but she still gets some teething pains from time to time. Shelby has six pearly white teeth that she loves to tear through crackers, bread, paper, keys and pretty much everything else she puts her hands on. Some of her favorite past times are: reading (Polar Bear, Polar Bear, what do you hear?, "Colors" and "Numbers" by Scholastic Reader) bath , singing and dancing with dad, pram walks, pram sleeps, getting out in the world period., watching Baby Einstein or Into the Night Garden, and watching other kids play. She loves to eat! Both from mommy (still) and from the table. Her favorite "dinners" are: potatoes, broccolli and meatballs and lasagna. She also enjoys pears, prunes and bananas and likes to get her nibble on with some crackers. About twenty five percent of Shelby's day is spent at the table.

The pictures below are some of the first few days we really felt the warmth and enjoyed extra daylight hours. The pictures from Vallø are our favorites! Two ducks decided to come picnic with us. As soon as we bit into our dinner here came Mr. and Mrs. Begster wanting to join along. Simon was mad because I gave them some of Shelby's salmon and potato mash and then couldn't get rid of them. Shelby laughed and laughed so we decided to get her down to their level. Since she can't walk yet we thought we would assist her in chasing them with just the wheels from her pram which she LOVED. Parenting can be so much fun! Today it is 70 and we will be picnicing in our own park tonight. See you soon!

Wow! What a week the Chercka family has had!! The Everharts came to visit and we were BUSY! It was so much fun, but went by far too fast. Some of the things we got to do were firsts for Shelby including a train ride, a hike down and up Mons Klint, and getting to see her uncle Chad.

Shelby had some great sleep habits during the day allowing April and I some serious shopping time and tea time in cafes. Can't really say the same about night time. Lately mommy and daddy have been dealing with frequent night wakings because of teething. Ugh! To think she only has four. This means a mouthful awaits her. And us! Anywho... Some of the activities we got to enjoy:

• Koge (the town Simon and I live in)


• Copenhagen (DK's capital)


• Arken (our favorite art museum)


• Mons Klint (a rather large cliff made of chalk just south of us)


• a trip down to Vallo castle just minutes from our house


• April and I went down to Stroby Strand to look at the houses


• A trip out to Simon's School (has a lot of modern architecture)


• Inger and Jorgs house for dinner


• Mosehuset (a charming cottage in the woods that sells all you need for a cozy, warm household)
  
• and we are not sure where we would be without our media center (Chad's daily Star Wars viewings were just what the doctor ordered to fill the hole that Mt. Dew left so empty, cold and alone.)

Now as the lovely couple flies over the ocean, Simon and I are trying to find our way back to normality. The pictures are taken out on Billesborg's playground where we parttook in some family time...the three of us, once again. For pictures of the five of us, visit my facebook page.

(Thanks April for the extra hand with Shelby and doing the dishes. OOOOO, they were SO appreciated. Thanks Chad for the continuous amount of chocolate and cookie flow throughout the week. Between that and the morning coffee I think I will go murder a brown snake now.)

visiters

well, april and chad made it to denmark and all is well. we have seen many sites but the most welcoming has been the sunshine! today, we are going to m?ns klint a big cliff made out of chalk that overlooks the baltic. otherwise, we have been to copenhagen, k?ge, and simon and i's favorite art museam, arken. and who can forget a da-lish dinner at inger and jorg's. i have truely enjoyed visiting with my sister and having the extra hands around the house.

still to come: sweden, ikea and more of h&m!!

just shy of spring

hmmm, what am i going to do today? i have minute to regroup and think about it while shelby takes her 45 min. morning nap. its going to be around 50 today and the sun is gonna shine. p.to the t. to the l.

simon had his study group up in our crib at 7:00 this morning...holy lord! we had a feast of a breakfast. it was so wonderful to have more people around at that time of day...i am so excited for chad and april to come in just short of a week! wonderful.

in other news shelby has tiny little spots on her while the chicken pox epedimic at billesborg continues. well, she has to get them sometime, because denmark sure the heck has no vaccination for them. o well. life goes on.

still...what should the little one an i do today? i have been on every walk in denmark. maybe we will adventure to kbh. too far. hmmmm....

i miss blogging. it feels good to chat to a digital audience again!

iGoogle

For those of you who havn't discovered iGoogle and use it for their home page, should really consider it! I can access just about everything from one web page (Facebook, CNN, FoxNews, BBC News, Google Translate, youtube, eBible and the weather) without using bookmarks. I am even writing this blog from my this page. Such a great service!! Those who already have it, yeah, I have been a little slow these days, and I'm just catching up, but those who don't, you are missing out on an incredible feature!

I basically just wrote this blog for the sake of seeing if it really works :)

To see more of Shelby's favorite time of day click here

Stay tuned for further updates on the days of our lives.

olympic replays are on right now. they are focusing primarily on the losers: those participants that lost by mere hairs and those that didnt even make it over the first hurdle. the olympic losers made me think back to our christmas. we were in great anticipation of the big day. we decorated or "practiced" christmas weeks in advance, lossed some weight for the big feast, and even were nervous over the spectators that would be watching shelby unravel her first big celebration while all 5 of her senses were in overdrive. all this and more in order to be ranked last place. this years christmas reminds me of one of the hurdle jump races: gun echos, the particpants take flight and while many others are taking their 4th and 5th leaps a swedish girl doesn't quite make it over the first hurdle. in other words: i get sick, followed by my six month year old daughter, followed by my husband. we are losers.

(rewind)

december 21, 10:00pm: shakes come over me while playing xbox with my husband. i have a high fever and deep cough and i can't sleep that night.

december 22, 8:30am: simon calls the doctor to reschedule shelby's vaccination appointment but they tell us both to come in. doctor is a little nervous for my cough sending me home with penicillin. shelby gets her vaccination, we both go to bed with a fever that night.

december 23: this will be the first day we meet with the family. what a shame we can't go! i am sick as a dog, fever is not breaking, but shelby and simon are fine. i am in bed with a deep cough and high fever all day. at about 11:30pm shelby wakes up with a high fever. she barely sleeps the rest of the night.

december 24: my fever subsides but shelby has a fever and is coughing very bad. her nose runs and runs. she only sleeps when she is curled up in my arms. we go to the hospital because all the doctors offices are closed and they say she has a cold. tell us to take a childrens pain medicine. we don't have any so we call around until we find someone who does. shelby sleeps peacefully for about 10 hours.

december 25: shelby is worse. coughing, nose running. we keep giving her pain medicine and plenty of fluids. she is able to take naps, though, and sleeps the majority of the day. she wakes up several times at night to drink.

december 26: shelby is better. we finally decide to celebrate christmas and go to the grandparents. not sure we should have let her sleep outside. she has a high fever again when we get home. now simon too has a cold.

december 27: shelby is sick again. spend the day at home where fortunately she sleeps all day.
goes to bed with a fever.

december 28: go back to the doctors. they are a little nervous about her cough. they put her on penicillin. we are under the impression that shelby has pneumonia. her fever is gone but she is coughing pretty hard.

the following days shelby continued to get better. she still has a slight cough, but we have gotten out of the house in the meantime. i am usually trying (trying) to see the brighter side of things but it was VERY difficult to say to myself "this too shall pass" this time around. especially at christmas when all you want to do is sit around with family and eat all day long.

after embracing the fact that we weren't doing ANYthing during the holidays i started thinking about what was important, which was easy because i didn't have the merry distractions that i normally have during christmas. actually i think i thought about it more this year than any. of course, we are all losers in comparison to the one thing that matters, the one thing that gives us meaning during the holiday in the first place, without this grace from god we would be losers forever more stumbling over more than just hurdles. but because away in a manger a little child was born we have now recieved a way out...a way out of loserdom and sickness and all the other garbage mankind can recieve from this world. i owe my family's health to it. thank god for jesus...else i would be bitter ice cold angry right now.

after i watched the olympic replays i listened to an interview with the swedish hurdle jumper. she, despite her loss, was looking ahead. i lift my head up, not as high as if none of this had happened, but just enough to see some hope:) to see more pictures please go to my facebook's christmas album . i havnt had time to make an album:( hope all of you had a blessed christmas.

Brooke, my sister returned to Denmark for a second glance. This time things were a bit different since I am no longer foot loose and fancy free. Brooke hooged a bit on the couch and watched A LOT of tv. As a career driven woman with three jobs and a remarkable job well done as Aunt Brooke, I think she deserved every second of qt she spent in front of the boob tube. Other activities included a trip to Copenhagen, Thanksgiving with the Chercka's, snow portraits, a walk to Vallø, pretty much catering to 50 people on her vacay (Seriously?) and of course shopping Køge. I enjoyed every minute of it! (Absolutely!) Click here to see more pictures.

Simon and I finally made the decision to have Shelby dedicated to the Lord and the church that we have been involved in for almost four years (Simon a couple of years longer.) My father inlaw professed a meaningful word over his granddaughter and attempted to offer her up to our loving Father and eager church by lifting Shelby up to the high heavens. The child took on the role of Mufasa instead of Simba and let out a powerful ROAR as she was recieved into the "Circle of Life."

Thank goodness my sister Brooke was here in Denmark to help me with the party after. I have concluded that I am not much for being a hostess, but am very willing to help prep. Inger, my mother inlaw, and Brooke did an amazing job on the american finger-food cuisine and the flowers that decorated our "church hall." After the reception the immediate family came up for some "hygge" or "hoogs" as Brooke and I like to call it (which means coziness, pronounced in danish hoo-ga). We had a great day. God has really blessed Simon and I with our church family and we are so lucky that Shelby can be apart of it! Click here to see more pictures of Shelby's dedication.